Helaman 7:10; 14:24; 3 Nephi 6:8; 8:13 (between A.D. 26 and 34)

Cast up highways and roads are probably the most expansive man-made structures mentioned in the Book of Mormon. A “highway” in older English refers to “a main road, especially one connecting major towns and cities.” A “road” refers to “a wide way leading from one place to another.” Mormon when referring to the time period from A.D. 26 to 30, some 600 years after their arrival in the promised land, recorded that “there were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” (3 Ne. 6:8; see also, 3 Ne. 8:13). These “cast up” highways appear to have radiated out from the city of Zarahemla, the center of their lands, and connected with outlying settlements. Given even the moderate size of their lands, there could have been tens or even hundreds of miles of extensive roadways which were “cast up.” The process of “casting up” a road or highway consisted of clearing the ground of an existing path or trail of obstacles such as stones, rocks and vegetation and then moving the larger rocks and stones to the side of the path to clear the way and visually demarcate a preexisting route. This procedure was also used in the Biblical lands for highways and roads and by the Spanish in areas they occupied in the western hemisphere. These nuisance rocks and stones were simply “cast” or thrown to the side of the road forming a discernible border. The prophet Isaiah explains the “casting up” process in the making of highways when he states: “prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones (Isa. 62:10; see also, Isa. 57:14; Jer. 18:15). Thus a “cast up highway,” even in the Biblical setting, was made by gathering out the stones so they could be cast to the side. Mormon records that in A.D. 34, at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, these Nephite “highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough” (3 Ne. 8:13).

Ammon prepared the “horses and chariots” of king Lamoni to “conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land” (Alma 18:9–10, 12). By “proclamation of Lachoneus,” the chief judge and governor of the land of Zarahemla, the people took “their horses, and their chariots” and went “forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies” (3 Ne. 3:22). In older English, “chariots” were any wheeled vehicles for the conveyance of goods such as a cart or wagon and not simply stately coaches for the conveyance of persons or a vehicle for warfare. To accommodate these commonplace, wheeled vehicles, we suggest the “roads” and “cast up highways” of the Nephites would have been some 10 to 12 feet wide. Walking roads for people and animals could have been only three to five feet wide.

Remnants of these “cast up highways” are still evident today in Baja California, much like remains of ancient Roman roads are still visible. We have been struck by the time-worn “cast up” roads that still extend for significant distances in many of our proposed locations for Nephite cities and between Book of Mormon lands, especially the land of Zarahemla. Their alignment, construction and engineering appear to be better than the rather basic and quickly built “Camino Real,” or Royal Road the Spanish built in the 1700s and 1800s to connect their mission centers along the length of Baja California and Alta California (see, Harry W. Crosby, The King’s Highway in Baja California, Copley Books, 1974; and our topic article, The Narrow Strip of Wilderness—Spatial Features, Orientation and Recorded Journeys). These extensive pre-Spanish roads are still visible on the ground and especially from space using images from Google Earth. The basis for their existence and the engineering techniques used in their construction remain to be further explored and analyzed. This task is high on our research agenda and a major focus of our field-based investigations. These remnants of ancient highways in Baja California, extending for many miles, show evidence of an earlier people with experience in road building, a necessity to build such roads and a collective will to accomplish the task. Just as important, the construction of these roads matches the description of “cast up” highways in the Book of Mormon account and are primarily located in our proposed area for the land of Zarahemla.